Corsham CDPBasil Hill Site

Case Study

£3.5 Million ContractOver 14,000 items installed in 30 Days

FFE: Brief and ScopeJohn Laing Integrated Services, the successful FM Preferred Vendor, appointed Abbey

Business Equipment to plan, recommend and select, deliver and install Furniture, Fixtures

and Equipment for all buildings. The contract value was £3.5m.

The remit included determining the most appropriate equipment ranges, leading the client

on product selection and arranging supplier visits to review and assess furnishing options.

Furniture, Fixtures and Equipment (FF&E) for the MOD’s new £690m Corsham site

Signed, sealed and delivered: in a £3.5m contract

covering workspace and

living accommodation for

the new MOD Tri-service

communications Centre,

Corsham, Abbey

Business Equipment

demonstrates it can

perform at scale…

Specific Challenges

• Ensuring on best performance/value product choice for client

• Minimising supply risk by pre-stocking

• Scheduling fitting within site works timescales

• Materials handing to and from site

• Diversity of equipment required

Main Office Building

• Desking seating storage and breakout furniture for 1850 people

• Circa 40 meeting rooms

• 300 seat restaurant

• Breakout and coffee areas to seat 300 people in different locations.

• Conference facility for 204 people.

Gymnasium & Sports Hall

• All training equipment: steppers, rowing machines, bikes, free

weights and multi gyms.

• Badminton and volleyball posts and nets

• 5-a-side goals and nets

• Boxing equipment.

GOSCC

• Hi-tec furniture supporting up to 9 monitors at a desk position

• Meeting rooms breakout areas and furniture for another 80

support staff

Single Living Accomodation (SLA)

• 180 bedrooms for the various ranks

• Dining room, function room/bar/lounge facility for each rank

Outcomes

• 14,000 items of FF&E sourced

• 90% of all product secured 8 weeks before installation

• All products UK supplied

• 187 7.5T deliveries successfully co-ordinated to site

• 47 40ft lorries delivered to site

• 25 fitters employed on site daily for 5 weeks

• Minimal end of contract snag list

• Project was delivered/signed off by external independent

certifier on time

Project Specifics

BackgroundThe Defence Equipment and Support Information Systems and Services

(DE&S ISS) staff provide communications systems across the MOD. In a

£690m project managed by Defence Estates (DE), MOD teams will be united

at a new, purpose built site at Basil Hill in Corsham, North Wiltshire.

Creating 1874 workspaces, new Single Living Accommodation for 180 military and civilian

personnel plus a new sports hall and gymnasium, the vast site provides a contemporary,

professional environment for work and leisure.

The joint Venture is an (SPV) Called INTEK LTD between John Laing plc, the project

developer and investor in public private partnerships, and Interserve, the services,

maintenance and building group.

Abbey Business Equipment LtdHead Office

23-24 Neptune Business ParkTewkesbury RoadCheltenhamGloucestershireGL51 9FB

Tel: 01242 263444Fax: 01242 250404www.abbeybusinessequipment.com

John Laing Integrated Services’ (JLIS) selected Abbey Business Equipment (Abbey) to supply furniture, fittings and other equipment (FF&E)

on a large scale project for the Ministry of Defence, Corsham.  

Due to the nature of the project there were increased levels of security clearance processes to adhere to and complex interfaces with the

construction company and client who were both working on site during installation.  The project also carried a financial risk for JLIS with

performance penalties for non completion of installation deadlines. 

Therefore JLIS needed to select a partner that we could trust in order to deliver the quality, security and performance standards required to

deliver the project on time and to the satisfaction of the client.  

From the early stages of the project Abbey’s experienced industry specialists demonstrated a very open and honest approach to working

in partnership with JLIS, helping to shape the development of the project and showed continuous commitment and endeavour through its

duration, thus ensuring all contractual deadlines were met and that the client and end users were satisfied.

Tim Greer, Managing Director, John Laing Integrated Services

ENDORSED BY Sarah Hudd, General Manager, INTEK Services (SPV)

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As lead consultant for Laing O’Rourke’s Design and Construct team for the Corsham Development Project, FaulknerBrowns Architects

worked closely with Abbey Business Equipment to ensure that the selected furniture worked successfully within the architectural concepts

and met with end-user approval.

Strong use of colour was utilised architecturally in the six office fingers in particular, to assist workplace identity and wayfinding both

internally and externally, and the same colours were matched as accents in the furniture palette. 

Similarly in the office main entrance, a striking range of block colours was applied to the three different sculptural volumes to bring

vibrancy within an otherwise restrained architectural palette in the double height space, and highly contemporary furniture was selected to

compliment the architectural design.

Tania Love, Director, FaulknerBrowns Architects